Your ecommerce business' overall web marketing strategy begins with an effective ecommerce SEO strategy deployed by the right talent and the right resources. In determining a reliable SEO consultant to lend his or her expertise, most ecommerce marketing teams and business owners find the search to be more than daunting.

There are thousands of SEO consultants out in the world today; but only a very minute portion are proficient and competent enough to offer effective results. The questions below will help to guide you through the process of weeding through in order to ensure that you hire the proper candidate as it pertains to your ecommerce site.

What Other Ecommerce SEO Projects Have You Worked On?

Ecommerce SEO consultants take great pride regarding their bodies of work as well as the client lists that they have comprised through time. When asked, an efficient consultant will not hesitate in providing a comprehensive and complete client listing. This information will allow for the proper gaging of their efficiency and productivity.

Can You Share Any Google Webmaster Guidelines?

There is a guide for how search engines control search quality and it is called the Google Webmaster Guidelines. Google’s guidelines prohibit, expressly, most commonly utilized SEO tricks such as hidden texts and links as well as automatically generated content that is spammy. Violating the guide can result in either low rankings or a website being completely banned.

What Ecommerce SEO Projects Have You Made Successful in the Past?

The client list only tells who they have worked for previously, not which of them received success within their projects. It is extremely imperative to know the consultants ratio of success. Additionally, ask what they did in order to achieve the original success as well as what they had/have in place to ensure continued success.

Can The SEO Consultant Point Out Any Obvious Opportunities for Ecommerce SEO?

You will need to ask for details regarding how your website will be reviewed and how will current issues that are currently causing low rankings and scores will be removed. The consultant will also need to explain thoroughly how they will be able to implement proper on-page optimization while also making the site increasingly more search engine friendly.

Does the SEO Consultant Have Any Specialties?

It is within the best industry of your company to find a consultant that specializes in the area of ecommerce. Just was with any other industry, there are general contractors within SEO as well as specialists.

The most successful and proficient SEO consultants will be equipped to provide your business with a free audit of your site. They will do this as a measure to supply you, the prospective client, with the most realistic and plausible expectations for your site. Should the consultant be able and willing to perform such an audit, the information provided will allow you to know the direction that your SEO marketing campaign needs to be directed.

With the information provided above, you will be able to find a viable SEO consultant for your ecommerce website while avoiding the bevy of scam artists lurking about.

For every business moving forward with SEO services, it is important to know the industry standards in terms of cost and expectations. One should make a very favorable decision and also look at the tips on how certain SEO agencies and service providers operate. This way you can make a more informed decision about the SEO services you choose to invest in, and when you can expect to see results.

Models of the SEO Payment

Most SEO agencies, consultants, and related service providers offer four main payment models:

Monthly Retailer

In this model, the customers pay a given amount of fee every month in exchange of a service. It is a common model of making payments as it offers the greatest ROI based on the SEO services being performed. The monthly arrangements for the customer, or deliverables, often include regular analytic reports, press releases, rank reports, and/or optimization checklists.

Project-based Pricing

Project-based SEO fees are similar to the services contract. The pricing usually varies depending on the project. Example a local cupcake shop can ask an SEO agency to help them with their online marketing. The customer decides if they are ready for the agency to make an establishment of their social media accounts. Therefore the cupcake business and the SEO agency decide on the scope and the cost of the project.

Contract SEO Services at Fixed Prices

Mostly all SEO agencies use contract SEO services. Before a customer is ready to engage a monthly retailer, they make a selection of the contract services which they want to be completed. The SEO services that are provided by the SEO agency on month-to-month bases or for a 6-to-12 month SEO program for a set price.

A good example of this is the SEO audit that determines the existing strengths and weaknesses in the online presence of the customers, competitive analysis that have the highest potential to give a positive return on ROI.

Hourly Consulting

This is a known model of SEO consulting which hourly fee is exchanged for the information. It's very simple and straightforward. SEO consulting services will often range from $50/hour to $300/hour depending on the location, type of SEO, and professional offering the services. For instance, ecommerce SEO consulting services are often more expensive than local SEO services because of the depth of the website and competition.

Things To Be Suspicious Of

Instant results – Some of the SEO tactics can have instant results through gaming of the system. Therefore you need to be warned since these can hurt you in the long run. They involve the SEO practices which are against the webmaster guidelines put out by the search engines.

Guarantees – SEO firms cannot provide guarantees because of the constant changing nature of the industry.

Costs that are lower than $750 per month – when it comes to SEO you are not shopping for the lowest price but you are seeking the best level of the service. Be warned of the unbelievable deals.

Spot on Google – if an agency promises you number one spot on the Google it something good. However it is something that a firm cannot promise to hand over to you.

Things to Keep Top of Mind

Not SEO services are created equal – Always find the finest SEO agency you can. Keep top of mind finding an SEO company that defines the scope of the services and take time to educate you.

SEO takes time – a monthly trainer is the best- Think of SEO as a long term investment. The most enduring results of the SEO come from a long term relationship.

SEO is important – The point of your website is just to increase or improve your business. The best thing to do is to pay what it takes to keep your site available by the people you are looking.

For most of the business, SEO is the best ROI marketing effort and the cost of SEO services is worth it. The benefits it offers are more than the value of other approaches of marketing that is broadcast advertising, direct mailing and the online ads etc.